Of Blunders and Mishaps

I lied to the Indian government. Not intentionally, mind you, it just happened to work out that way. On my application for my Indian Visa I wrote that the main reason I wanted to visit India was to see the Taj Mahal. I hear that it is really amazing. In fact that is what the bus driver for the tour I booked to see it told me. He told me this, then got in the bus and drove away...without me. It was at my behest, however.

It was going to be perfect. The tour that I booked to see the Taj Mahal was to return to Delhi at 10:30pm and my flight to Singapore left at 12:45, so it would be tight, but it would be perfect. That was until I asked the bus driver what time he thought we would be back. I only asked because the tour was to leave at 6am and it was now 7:30am when I was asking him. He looked at the sun and then looked at me and breathed out, "oh, maybe 1 or 2 in the morning." I immediately went into problem solving mode because the ship was taking on water, and fast. I pressed him to find out if there was any possible way to be back at 10:30 and he laughed a great big, evil Disney character belly laugh and said that was not possible.

I got off the bus and walked into the tour agency to speak to the guy in charge to weigh my options. I knew there was no way I would get my money for the tour back so I started trying to figure out what the options he could give me were. All he gave me was that I could have hired a car and driver for about $200 US, which was way out of my Taj Mahal budget. That was it, or come back tomorrow, which would be even more expensive seeing as I would have to fly from Singapore. I thought about the train, but in India if you are a foreigner you have purchase your train ticket 5 hours in advance before boarding and you can not purchase a return ticket, which means that once in Agra, where the Taj Mahal is, I would have to buy a return ticket that was 5 hours out, which would get me back at 1am if the train doesn't break or get lost, which are likely possibilities. After three hours of optimism and problem solving I accepted defeat. The tourism Gods were not with me.

Instead of the Taj I ended up getting a cab to the Humayun Tomb, which is older, less impressive, and not half as iconic as the Taj. It was a shitty consolation prize, but I took it. I ended up just heading to the airport early after I just got tired of lugging all of my stuff around Delhi in the 100 degree heat and humidity. I figured I could putter around on the Internet at the airport for awhile since I would be there about 6 hours before my flight left, but at least I would be in air-conditioning. That's what I thought, at least, but I should have taken the cue from the days events that things don't always go to plan. As I got to the airport and headed in the guard looked at my ticket and said, "no, you can't come in until 2 hours before your flight." I pleaded for a moment, but the guy had a machine gun, no sense of humor, and a big bushy mustache. He was all business. I wandered for a few moments, thinking of what to do. Eventually I did like many of the other people were doing and I found a nice comfortable piece of concrete on the sidewalk, curled up and slept off my frustration. For being hot, humid, and surrounded by smelly people I actually got a couple solid hours of a nap in on the concrete. It was surely welcome as well, seeing as the frustration from the day really took it out of me.

When it was time for me to be granted permission to enter the premises it felt good to back to familiar territory with check in counters and air-conditioning. There I went again, though, thinking that things would be smooth. As I checked in, the ticket counter guy asked me for my Australia visa. I told him that I was going to buy it at the airport, which is what the Australian website told me before I left, albeit a couple months ago. I was wrong, Australia changed the rule last month and I could not board my flight until I had a valid Australia visa because I would be deported if I landed without a visa. That would have been a perfect ending, being deported. I ended up being shuffled around from person to person until finally I talked to someone wearing a sport coat and a nice tie. I convinced him to let me use his computer and so that I could apply for my Australia visa, which takes 24 hours to be approved. Then I talked him into only book me on my flight to Singapore and not all the way through to Australia, since I had a 13 hour layover in Singapore and I do not need a visa to travel there. With the 13 hour layover in Singapore I was sure that my visa would have been pushed through by then, at least that's what I hoped. He reluctantly obliged, although I think it was mostly just to pass me off so that I would be Singapore's problem.

After all that I am in Singapore and my visa was accepted so I will shortly be boarding my flight to Australia. This is a very poorly written entry because I am tired, hungry, I have to pee, and the story is still pretty fresh, so it stings a little to relive it. It was an experience, though.

I have made the best of my layover while here in Singapore. This is the best airport in the world. It has mini golf, a pool, showers, a fitness club, a bounce house, and they have free city tours if you have a layover longer than 6 hours. At every counter they have candies. It's like Disneyland! I didn't really feel like doing the city tour because there is a resort type island that I have wanted to see here in Singapore which the tour didn't go to, so I made my way around the city. Singapore feels like a city that they just popped the freshness seal off of. Their economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and much of their infrastructure, like roads, the metro, buildings, are all brand new. Add that to the fact that they are very near the equator so they have an unbelievably tropical climate making the city covered in lush greenery and vital wildlife and you have an impressive place. It is a beautiful place. It was a welcome respite from the past 36 hours. I still can't wait to get to Australia and lay on the beach, though. I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up too much, though, I am not in the country yet so I still have the chance of being deported. That would be the cherry on top of this layer cake of blunders and mishaps.